Competition in the gaming industry to attract a player and then retain the players interest for protracted periods of time is an increasingly greater challenge. The environment in a casino is typically rich in stimulation, both visual and auditory. As a consequence, it is an ongoing effort to initially attract a player to a given machine and subsequently encourage the player to stay at the machine based on the machine's entertainment value.
Slot machines formed from a plurality of reels which rotate independently of each other, whether mechanical or video depictions of the mechanical reels, are some of the oldest types of games. Each reel has a reel strip. On each reel strip is designated indicia. When related indicia are oriented on a "pay line" that corresponds to an associated pay table displayed elsewhere on the machines, player receive awards.
Such machines have evolved from having a single horizontal pay line centrally disposed on the reel to having a plurality of pay lines, some pay lines located horizontally, some diagonally, others vertically and some in corners.
The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and is included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
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